Jazz Articles about Eric Alexander

About Eric Alexander

Radio & Podcasts

Eric Alexander's latest plus new music from Novalima, Dream Brigade and Candice Hoyes

by Hobart Taylor
April 16, 2025

Eric Alexander, Igmar Thomas Revive Big Band, Canada's Ostara Project and Candice Hoyes! Playlist Candice Hoyes Ted NashVincent Gardner “Far Away Star" from Far Away Star (Self Produced) 0:00 Sacha Boutros “J'Attendrai (featuring Giovanni Mirabassi)" from Love Trilogy (Hear Me Roar) 4:48 Eric Alexander" The Lamp Is Low" from Chicago To New York (Cellar) 8:42 Host Speaks 19:34 Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol “My Blues" from 7 Shades of Melancholia (Dunya) 21:46 Myra Melford “ Insertion 2" from Hear the ...

Liner Notes

One For All: Big George

by C. Andrew Hovan
February 9, 2025

The world has changed dramatically since the end of the 20th century, the time period when the jazz collective One For All began to forge their stamp on the history of hard bop. Using the club Augie's on New York's upper west side as their stomping grounds, the group would make their debut recording at the beginning of 1987. The Broadway club would eventually become home of Smoke, one of the gems of the city's jazz scene and continued purveyor ...

Album Review

The Heavy Hitters: That's What's Up!

Read "That's What's Up!" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
January 21, 2025

Mike LeDonne and Eric Alexander head up a band called Heavy Hitters, which features a stellar cast of New York's jazz elite, including trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, bassist Alexander Claffy and drummer Kenny Washington. They have released That's What's Up!, a live recording from Frankie's Jazz Club in Vancouver, British Columbia in December 2023 that captures the authenticity, spontaneity, and emotive power of a band firing on all cylinders. The set list is an artful blend of ...

Album Review

Heavy Hitters: That's What's Up!

Read "That's What's Up!" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
January 3, 2025

Heavy Hitters is a superb New York-based sextet co-led by pianist Mike LeDonne and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander. Individually and as a team, the Hitters keep their eyes squarely on the ball, swing for the fences and, more often than not, slam the spheroid solidly out of the park. And on this typically upbeat session they do it in front of an appreciative audience at Frankie's Club in Victoria, British Columbia. A freewheeling groove permeates the concert, ...

Liner Notes

Melvin Rhyne: Classmasters

by C. Andrew Hovan
September 3, 2024

While it's an easy task to designate any number of Hammond B-3 organ players who have quickly fallen under the spell of innovator Jimmy Smith, it's not as simple to inventory the few individuals who've avoided Smith's overpowering influence to develop a sound and manner of their own. Melvin Rhyne is one who managed to carve a niche for himself during the '60s with a much lighter and less bombastic approach, around during the heydays as a member of Wes ...

Album Review

Eric Alexander & Mike LeDonne: Together

by Jack Bowers
September 2, 2024

Eric Alexander and Mike LeDonne have been together many times--on recordings, in clubs, at concerts and elsewhere-- but never quite as intimately so as on this splendid album, even though they are heard Together on only four of the album's nine tracks- -LeDonne maps a solo course on three others, Alexander on two (moving to soprano sax on “Autumn in New York"). Either way, they are delightful to hear and appreciate, and the need for a full ...

Album Review

Eric Alexander & Mike LeDonne: Together

Read "Together" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
July 26, 2024

Eric Alexander and Mike LeDonne's album Together is an acknowledgment of the magic that can emerge when two masterful musicians collaborate in a duo setting. This release, featuring nine tracks, captures the essence of their longstanding musical relationship, offering a rich tapestry of spontaneous interplay, deep grooves and expressive storytelling through sound. And that sound was captured as the session was recorded at the iconic Van Gelder Studio at Englewood Cliffs, NJ, with LeDonne performing on Rudy Van Gelder's nine-foot ...